Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela Island and Punta Espinosa, Fernandina Island
Very early in the morning we had an encounter with a Bryde’s whale as we navigated around the northern part of Isabela Island. The sunrise was spectacular and we could see the slopes of Wolf Volcano progressively getting the light of the sun. A very sunny day began after that and it brought us into one of the most pristine island of the Galápagos archipelago. After we saw the whale we crossed the Equator, and we headed into a small anchorage area close to Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela Island.
The first activity of the day was a Zodiac ride along the coastline, looking for some of the endemic seabirds of the Galápagos Islands: the flightless cormorant and the Galápagos penguin. Before finding these seabirds we had the chance to go into a small protected bay were several marine turtles swam and occasionally reached the surface, showing their heads. The numerous turtles were an example of what awaited for us during the snorkeling, but there was a minor surprise this time, the water was a little cold, as each explorer entered into the water we could hear different sounds coming through the snorkel, totally impossible to understand any of the words, but they seemed to indicate that the water was a little colder than the previous day.
During the afternoon we visited Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island, where we were received by several marine iguanas, which sneezed every now and then, as we continued the visit the number of iguanas kept increasing; all of them facing the sun. A pair of young sea lions played with each other while a female nursed its pup nearby, in the background the impressive shape of the main volcano. The slopes of this volcano looked barren, giving us a good idea of how young this island is, probably only 300,000 years old.
Marine iguanas were scattered all over the island, and we had to be aware not only of the uneven terrain and the lava rocks, but also of the iguanas, which did not move even if we walked right next to them. The flightless cormorants were returning to the island and one of them opened its wings to dry them, showing how small they are compared to what is expected in any other ancient relative they might have all over the world.
As we returned on the Zodiacs the moon began to rise, on the other side of the horizon the clouds turned into different tones of yellow and reds, at the same time several marine iguanas returned back to the islands—it was “rush hour” in Galápagos.
